Guiding a Child Through Holistic Healing
By Sandra Maqueda

Children have a strong and natural instinct to survive. Unlike adults, this instinct is uncontaminated by negative thoughts which can often undermine it, and precipitate a feeling of impending doom. Their view of the world, whilst simplistic, touches on the very emotions and spirituality that as adults many of us have cleverly learnt to suppress or ignore. This gives tremendous scope for holistic therapy, since children do not possess the skepticism necessary to undermine its effects.

Their intuitive ability is receptive to the natural healing which promotes an overall sense of well-being in mind, body and spirit. Children rely on their 'senses' to gauge what is appropriate for them; they can sense when something is wrong and likewise when something feels good. If a form of treatment is too painful it conflicts with what they understand to be 'healing' or 'getting better'. This conflict is clearly present in conventional cancer treatment, where pain and suffering is associated with 'healing' - totally puzzling for any child. Natural therapy, by contrast, seems less intrusive. Not only is it consistent with the idea of healing, since no pain and suffering is involved, but it permits the child to be treated within his own comfort zone.

This means that children do not necessarily have to be treated in hospital, but can remain in the security of their own home. Also, important aspects of healing, such as food and nourishment, are familiar to the child. Other techniques involving touch, such as gentle massage, reflexology and reiki - can be soothing and quite acceptable to a child whose familiarization with touch goes back to birth. Herbal preparations are no more intrusive than pharmaceutical drugs when taken orally. Homoeopathic remedies are in fact palatable and sweet-tasting. When incorporated into the child's life in the formative years, healing can become an integral part of everyday life, such as in the case of my son Daniel.

Daniel was four years of age at the time of his diagnosis with the cancer known as 'undifferentiated sarcoma' - a small cell sarcoma that gives no clues as to its origins and exhibits a number of features inconsistent with any one specific cancer. The tumor had appeared quite suddenly as a large mass on his
left inner thigh. Within a week, whilst undergoing tests, the tumor grew considerably, to the extent that Daniel was walking on the tips of his toes with his leg arched outwardly to allow for the mass that had spread to an area extending from the hip to his knee.

Our oncologist told us that this type of cancer was aggressive and fast-growing, and it was therefore necessary for Daniel to undergo a course of chemotherapy, followed by surgery and possibly radiotherapy. His prognosis was poor, as we were led to believe that there was no proven cure, even though there were survivors with amputations reported overseas.

The thought of Daniel having chemotherapy, let alone radical surgery, was anxiety provoking for me, especially since there appeared to be no guarantee that his life would be saved. The risks associated with these conventional treatments meant that Daniel's quality of life would be jeopardised. This was
something that I was not prepared to do for the sake of medical experimentation.

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